New stars need to emerge in sports, new leaders. Women’s tennis is desperate for one now, and it’s about to get a new, old one. Or maybe she’s an old, new one. Either way, she’s the old lady left at Wimbledon, and she’s on the verge of winning the title again.

Seven years after winning Wimbledon for the first time, Sharapova is in the finals on Saturday after defeating Sabine Lisicki. She'll face Petra Kvitova, who beat Victoria Azarenka in the other semi early Thursday. Or, as the casual sports fan would refer to those other three players: Who?

After a few years of injury and then lost nerve on her serve, Sharapova is Killer Barbie again. She’s a champion-turned supermodel, and now about to become a champion again. In some ways, she never really went away, as she has appeared in photo shoots and swimsuit editions.

But when she won Wimbledon in 2004 at just 17, crushing Serena Williams, she seemed to have unlimited potential and a whole lot of Wimbledons ahead of her. She has won two majors since then and hasn’t been back to a Wimbledon final.

“I would have loved for it not to have taken that long, but I’m not complaining,” she said. “It’s the road that you sometimes have to take. It’s not always straight; there are a lot of zigzags. A lot of time, you feel like it’s a dead end.”

Sharapova has everything that can make athletes lose their edge. She already has all the money in the world, with a $70 million Nike contract. She has all the spotlight. She has already reached No. 1. And she is engaged, too, to Sasha Vujacic of the New Jersey Nets.

Yet she has come back by digging down on the practice courts.

Every sport needs someone on the mountaintop, someone you would say is the best, that everyone wants to beat. Women’s tennis has no leader.

Williams, who just came back after a year off with illness and injury, is about to turn 30, and could do it again if she stays healthy and becomes committed. Kim Clijsters, Supermom, sounds as if she’s ready to retire for a second time. And No. 1 ranked Caroline Wozniacki has never won a major and doesn’t come off as a champion.

So the game is thirsting for greatness. Sharapova should have had a long run of it by now.

She came out of nowhere to win that first Wimbledon, and tennis had one of those sudden teen emergences. In fact, back then, Sharapova was so unknown going into the tournament that I asked John McEnroe what he thought of her and her amazingly loud grunting. He said he hadn’t seen her, but that her grunting couldn’t have been THAT loud.

He now has seen her.

And heard her. We all have.

She became the Credible Kournikova, with supermodel looks and major championships. She is a marketing dream for the game. But she had major shoulder surgery, which set her back, of course. She also lost her nerve on her serve, kept fidgeting with the motion. She has been slowly getting better and gotten back to No. 6 in the world.

Last month, Sharapova seemed ready to win the French Open, but then got the yips on her serve again and double-faulted her way out in the semis. That’s why it’s a little nerve-wracking picking her now.

Sharapova is not trustworthy yet.

The sport needs her. It needs her persona, her ability to draw attention from casual sports fans. But also, it needs her just for the sake of having a leader.

The quality of play for the women at Wimbledon has been better than it was in the previous few majors. Serena might still get to the top again, and Li Na, French Open champ, brought in plenty of eyeballs – and potential ticket-buyers – from Asia. But both players are 29. After all these years, Sharapova, believe it or not, is still just 24.

She said she would seem younger if she hadn’t won so long ago. In the past few months it has been the 28-, 29-, 30-year olds winning big matches. The tour talked about modern-day fitness and experience, but the truth is, the next generation was missing something.

The other three semifinalists Thursday are 21. Is the next generation arriving? Maybe, but hold on: Ten different women have filled the 12 spots of the semifinals in this year’s first three majors. Only Li and Sharapova have gotten that far more than once. Who knows if these women will be there for the U.S. Open. Parity doesn’t work. On court, Sharapova never gives up. That’s what has separated her as a player. That same relentlessness has also kept her fighting all these years.

The story of this tournament was supposed to be about the Williams sisters’ comeback. Instead, a different new, old leader is back.